A wide variety of applications in the industry of monitoring the characteristics of rotating machinery require at least one transducer or sensor to be internally mounted within a machine case. A mounting bracket may be used to strategically mount the transducer and a cable associated with the transducer is routed out of the machine case. The routing of the cable through the machine case is usually through an adapter which includes some type of rubber grommet. The rubber grommet prevents leakage of fluid through the case via an outer surface of the cable.
Typically, a junction box is mounted on or near the exterior of the machine case and encloses the connections between the transducer cable and an extension cable that is used to route the output of the transducer to a processing unit.
As noted, the rubber grommet adequately prevents fluid from exiting through the machine case via the outer surface of the cable. However, a long felt problem in the industry still exists in that the fluid permeates through cuts and cracks in the outer jacket of the cable and is wicked up by the interior and particularly the braiding of the cable and is thus allowed to flow directly to the junction box or onto a shop floor. This not only causes a safety hazard, but an environmental hazard as well. As a result, the junction box must be periodically drained of fluid and/or the shop floor cleaned.
In addition, fluid may penetrate to the interior of the cable by way of a transition area between the transducer and one end of the cable. Furthermore, the tip of the transducer itself may become damaged and allow an entry for fluid to be wicked up by the interior and particularly the braiding of the cable.